best way to get rare fish?

Speaking of rare fish, I tried catching an oarfish while in TV mode using a pro controller, but no matter how fast I was, it would always swim away. Maybe there's a bug with the A button or something?

I know when I googled a couple of months ago there were several complaints that the Pro controller seemed to experience a delay when pressing A for fishing, and this is definitely something I've experienced. When I see a big shadow on the pier, I switch to handheld.
 
Do rare fish spawn more frequently in the rain or is that not a thing?

Otherwise you'll just have to craft bait and hope that you luck out. You can look up guides to figure out what size shadow you need if you're looking for specific fish. There's also a great site that helps you track what you need, what's available and what's leaving this month, etc. I think it's called Nooksguide?
 
Do rare fish spawn more frequently in the rain or is that not a thing?

Otherwise you'll just have to craft bait and hope that you luck out. You can look up guides to figure out what size shadow you need if you're looking for specific fish. There's also a great site that helps you track what you need, what's available and what's leaving this month, etc. I think it's called Nooksguide?
sweet, thank you!
 
I don't use bait, mostly because I keep forgetting to make it. I've caught everything that is available for March, April, and May, but I fish a LOT. Pretty much if I have nothing specific to do, I'll swing up and down the beaches, fishing and picking up shells, then hit the rivers. I get a lot of garbage fish, but I've also pulled some great catches out.

First catch goes to the museum, garbage fish (anything for a few hundred bells) gets sold to the Nooklings, and money fish go in storage until CJ stops by.

Bait might speed the process up (I do use it during fishing tourneys), but it isn't necessary to get the rare fish. It'll just take time and patience.
 
I don't use bait, mostly because I keep forgetting to make it. I've caught everything that is available for March, April, and May, but I fish a LOT. Pretty much if I have nothing specific to do, I'll swing up and down the beaches, fishing and picking up shells, then hit the rivers. I get a lot of garbage fish, but I've also pulled some great catches out.

First catch goes to the museum, garbage fish (anything for a few hundred bells) gets sold to the Nooklings, and money fish go in storage until CJ stops by.

Bait might speed the process up (I do use it during fishing tourneys), but it isn't necessary to get the rare fish. It'll just take time and patience.
thinking about doing this and grinding with bait tonight especially because the may fish are gonna go soon
 
thinking about doing this and grinding with bait tonight especially because the may fish are gonna go soon

Good luck! I don't know if it's a random thing or not, but the south side of my dock seems to spawn more rare fish (with and without bait) than the end. It might be worth experimenting (maybe in early June, as you don't have much time left for May).
 
If you are short on bait you can abuse the auto-save timer.

- Wait for auto-save
- Throw bait
- If before 3 minutes you do not catch anything new or rare, turn off game without saving

90% of rare fish are the Huge/Shadow size 6, so if you learn to recognize shadow sizes, it can make catching fish that much easier.

Lots of fishing haha I think they nerfed the rare fish rates since the game came out but that's just how I feel from personal experience (and my struggle to catch the Mahi-Mahi)

There is no proof fish spawn rates were ever nerfed or changed, unlike bug spawns.
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its a shame nintendo got rid of big fish island.. otherwise we’d all be set for life!

Nintendo go rid of ONE big fish island, there were two of them. It is still possible to get the other one.
 
There is no proof fish spawn rates were ever nerfed or changed, unlike bug spawns.
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Yeah just my personal experience then :) I don't keep up with the patch notes, but the drop in peacock butterfly spawns was really crazy! Did they nerf other bugs too?? :o
 
is there a guide?

Plenty of sites list it. But if you want it all in one place, Polygon has a guide for it.
jlee_200324_1005_ACNH_fish.jpg

Yeah just my personal experience then :) I don't keep up with the patch notes, but the drop in peacock butterfly spawns was really crazy! Did they nerf other bugs too?? :eek:

Nintendo doesn't post that stuff in patch notes, they keep it hidden so people don't realize it is being changed.
 
Lots of fishing haha I think they nerfed the rare fish rates since the game came out but that's just how I feel from personal experience (and my struggle to catch the Mahi-Mahi)
Is the mahi mahi a rare fish to catch? I saw some people talking about it through this month, and I decided to catch one yesterday at the dock. I threw the bait out and ended up catching a mahi mahi. If they're rare, then I was very lucky. 😲
 
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